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In Category(s): News & Features :: Fitness Headlines, News & Features :: Outdoor Headlines, Retail College :: Sales Training Classroom

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It's frustrating to scrounge around a disorderly toolbox. You can waste valuable time and energy fumbling for that one critical item. We at SNEWS® want to make life easier for you, so we've developed this handy chart to help you find our many Sales Tools & Advice articles published since 2003. With a quick glance, you can scan the chart to find the subject matter that fits your immediate need. Also, you can read a summary to make sure that the article provides the info you need for the job at hand. Then, simply click on the article headline link to access any article. 

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MASTERING BASIC SALES SKILLS
Connecting with customers the minute they walk in When customers meet you for the first time, they make a decision about you as a salesperson, and consequently the store, in the first 30 seconds. Besides the quickness of the decision, psychologists tell us it is very instinctive. So, on the retail sales floor customers will look at your face, clothing, body language and listen to your words and decide on you and the store as a package in that half a minute.
Want to close more sales? Simply listen! We trust that as a salesperson, you are always looking for ways to close a sale. While there are many reasons and just as many excuses for losing a sale, more often than not, if you lose a sale, it has nothing to do with your ability to close or your level of product knowledge -- it has to do with your focus. If you can learn to focus more on your customer, you will close more sales, we promise! 
Customers don't know how to ask good questions Disappointed you aren't making more sales? Perhaps it is because you are talking about your products too much and listening to your customers too little.
Didn't make the sale? You have only yourself to blame You are NEVER entitled to a sale – no matter how much time and energy you have invested into it. As a professional salesperson, the store you work for -- and you, if you are working on a commissioned basis -- are only compensated when you successfully deliver value to your customer. It is YOUR job to convince the customer that your company and product are worth their business. The customer owes you NOTHING.
“Playing catch” ensures homeruns with customers  A huge myth about top producing sales people is that they are exceptional at the “pitch.” The stereotype holds that because someone is smooth taking and naturally gifted at persuasion they will excel as a sales professional. In reality, non-stop pitching will significantly reduce your selling success.
Silence can be a sale’s best friend Salespeople are often guilty of giving into the pressure of silence. They mistakenly interpret silence as an objection. Having a propensity to assume the objection is price-related, salespeople automatically sweeten the deal with free product, better terms, or a lower price. However, jumping to these conclusions and feverishly haggling is what could hinder you from understanding your customer and ultimately making the sale.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
Are you being tripped up by customer service blunders? Training your staff to be sales-churning machines is not an easy task. Entrepreneur.com's Paul Levesque, a customer service expert, offered his list of the five most common mistakes that many businesses make in sales training and tips on how to correct them.
The customer is NOT always right... Wait, can that be true? The customer is always right” is a term that some trace back to Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of London department store Selfridge’s in the early 1900s. That phrase has been bantered about to prove to customers that they will always receive stellar service and to encourage employees to, well, treat the customer like family. But, let’s face it – when are family members always right?...
Tips on dealing with customers bearing product reviews from websites, magazines During the year, it never fails that customers show up holding printouts from websites or crumpled magazine pages of reviews for equipment, gear or apparel from somebody or another, some legitimate and some maybe not so.
Sales Know-How: Customers are gifts to be treasured Like a child shaking a colorfully wrapped box, businesses spend their time trying to determine if a customer is going to be worthy of their time instead of being grateful for and enjoying the opportunity of working with a customer who is interested in their services.
Listen and Learn: Creating an advisory board As a small business owner, you might think you can't afford to hire a research firm to keep track of how you're doing, but the good news is you don't have to. Instead, you can establish a customer advisory board to find out what your customers think about your business.
CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology of Shopping -- Do you really understand why that customer is coming into your store to buy? “It isn’t so much a traffic issue as it is a sales issue. You need to do a better job with the people already in your store.” —Ron Hornbaker, vice president of Retail Minds, citing ShopperTrak data showing that 70 to 80 percent of people walk out of stores without spending money. Specialty retailers trying to wheedle sales from consumers who are afraid of losing their jobs or life savings are coming to terms with a harsh reality: The marketing tactics that worked in previous downturns aren’t as effective in this current storm, which is proving to be wider, deeper and more intractable than many economists anticipated...
Engage customers' minds to connect them to your brand Consumers today are on the lookout for new ways to flex their mental muscle and prove their smarts to themselves and others, says the public opinion researcher firm Yankelovich. SNEWS® is running excerpts from that company's writings since this applies to anyone supplying or selling products and how they are presented to consumers. It's all about engaging the brain.
A good salesperson makes new friends everyday Point being, if you want to successfully establish rapport with your customers, you'll have to do it quickly, before they get the chance to assume you're just like every other salesperson – meaning you're only interested in them enough to make a quick buck. Fortunately, there are five keys to help you get a friendship off to a quick start!
Just because you like ketchup, doesn't mean your customers do Immediately after setting down our breakfast plates, the waitress serving me and my brother was suddenly overcome with sheer excitement. It was as if she had remembered something incredibly important, or maybe had just a few too many cups of coffee. She leaned in and exclaimed, "I'll be right back with some ketchup for you!"

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